White as Rain
by BasiliskPrince
Summary: Shortly after the final meeting with Akito...Yuki begins to act strangely. He's not as open as he was before with Tohru, and he takes off frequently without telling anyone. When he goes missing, Hatsuharu goes looking. HaruxYuki
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket. **

**OOC: So I don't know whether to make this a series or not. So, I'm going to ask my reviewers whether you want more or not. 3 For those who are wondering what the timeline is…it's set to the anime "Fruits Basket" and some time in the Summer after the final episode of the anime. This is how I precise things should go.**

**White as Rain**

_Point of View: Tohru_

The pitter-patter of soft rain against the roof did not hush the growing anticipation for the lone occupant currently in Shigure's house. The house was still, silent, with that remaining occupant settled in the dining room, kneeling before the sturdy wooden table…breath caught in her throat. Tohru could sense the fear surrounding her because it was a wave against her senses…like a strong aroma and that aroma was fear.

It had been hours since Yuki had softly stepped out of the house, an air of reserved and quiet pride pounding in his breast as he left with not a word as to his location. While that might not have been like him in the past to leave without a word, Tohru reflected that it was becoming a newfound trend for the Prince.

It started shortly after the night in the woods, the night Kyo's true form had solidified and she had declared her love for him…in a breath's whisper, groveling in front of the orange beast, with its pungent stench wafting through her nostrils. She had trembled and cowered in that moment, just as she had in front of Akito, but it had been for the best…in both situations. Now, however, she was beginning to understand the weight that might have balanced on Yuki's shoulders…after she had declared herself in no uncertain words as Kyo's property. The solid wall of silence that would gather around Yuki's shoulders was reappearing like a royal cape, and it was a heavy wave that could leave social situations awkward at best. Her worry had been growing before he had stepped from the cottage in the Sohma woods but now, several hours without Yuki's soft smile and attempted bravery…without his presence, her worry was more than just a passing thought.

Her fear was thick, strong and apparently contagious…as the rest of the Sohma party, even Kyo had begrudgingly submitted to help, gathered together to start a search party. Her job in the matter was to wait and see if Yuki would return to the house…and so the strong terror that had surrounded her festered and boiled inside her chest…capturing her heart in a forceful grip. Brown strands of hair so a-kin to her father's shade gathered in front of her trembling eyes…fresh with salted rain pouring down her cheeks and there she kneeled, awaiting the return of the Sohmas…awaiting the news of Yuki. She was in no position to abandon her post, though she wished she could do more, she knew now that all she could do was hope…all she could do was hope that her friend would make it home intact.

**(Character Shift) **

_Point of view: Hatsuharu_

The hard and striking crunch of his ebony boots against the freshly fallen and mud encased twigs was unfortunately not louder than his thoughts. His eyes scoured through puddles, deeply settled in the impacted dirt and his reflection was nothing short of a blank stare, a calm façade in the depths of a summer storm. Beneath his white fur-collared trench coat, mud caked his onyx turtle neck and his black jeans with it's darkened denim at the crotch in a circular patch was nothing short of the worst display of what a rainstorm could do to a teenager lost in the woodlands for at least two hours.

The phone had rung sharply at mid-day in Sohma House, and had disrupted any thoughts of what the day might hold for him. He recalled how distraught that one shrill ring had made him…especially at the news he had gathered. Settled on his bike, he had pedaled his way at top speed allowing his long legs to stretch and then bend as his foot was provoked the wheels in a circular motion in a demon's spiral…ever turning like the course of events. He had arrived at Shigure's house, breath slightly heaved from his breast as he inquired about Yuki to a waiting Tohru Honda, her face pale with fright. He remembered she had mentioned that Yuki had simply disappeared without a word…a strong and solid air of silence motivating his steps. She had stated that Yuki could have been anywhere at this point but she had suggested he should search out the garden…and she had stated it was in the depths of the woods…not far from Shigure's house. So while Kyo searched town, and Shigure went to inquire at the Main House for Yuki, and so he had made haste to find Yuki in the density of the woodlands…leaving his bike in the gravel… black handlebars dug into the earth and wheels were spinning in his wake.

It had been an eternity as he stepped through the woods…tree after tree looked the same…similar umber bark and sprouting branches…everywhere around him was the same with only a spare bush in between. When the rain had started, coating his white mop-top and even the blackened base, he had chalked it up to another horrible result of a miserable day. Nothing was worse, though, than the mounting tension in his heart…pounding into his chest like a handyman would slam a nail into wood with a steel hammer. Around and around, the same trees falling into his impassive and searching eyes…his features resting in a calm expression even as rain drops spilled against his cheeks, ran down white strands, and rolled their way down his neck and soaked his neck. He was in a damp and muddy state by the time he had wandered onto a dirt path escaping from the edges of the woods. It wasn't long before his boots were pressing against the dampened soil and leaving imprints of his sole on the ground. The path had lead on and he contemplated more than once upon turning around and floundering about in the woods in the hopes of another trail that might actually lead in the direction of the garden. It was only after five more minutes that his sights had gathered on a fallen form…coated in a thick and heavy sludge; the white of a tunic turned brown as a result of his contact with the heavy rain and his location on the ground had taken focus inside his onyx pools. He stood stalk-still, his pools tracing the sights of a young body…purple hair encrusted with earth and the feminine expression of high school's sweetheart…their royal heart-throb…expressing pain and attempted to breathe as wheezing escaped his slight tiers. The shallow movement of his chest as his soaked body tried in vein to gather under the tarp that sheltered the rows of vegetation. There was his first love, soaked to the bone and suffering an asthma attack for hours in the cold and unforgiving rain…but he was still breathing. He was thankfully still breathing!

"Yuki…" His words fell in a gentile hush of breath as his limbs moved quickly of their own accord. Jumping into action, his feet had nearly half run the short distance to Yuki…and when gathered next to him on mud-coated knees, he had brought his hand to feel the other's pulse. The shallow beat was a worry as he tugged his coat from his body and wrapped it around the slight form of his love…his mind reeling like a sudden montage what the world might be like without the rat. The thought sent him to quickly gather the smaller boy in his arms and run down the dirt path…sending mud and water in his wake. His breath pounded in his ears but his thoughts were far louder but didn't dare to spread across his face. The blank expression stayed but his mind whirled with emotions as did his feet as he ran, mindful to keep steady for the fact that he might damage Yuki further with jostling. He refused to let his body deplete until he fallen to his knees panting in front of Sohma house. He let a harsh cry escape his lips as he held tight to the thin body in his arms…stiff and strong in his hold…holding out for all he could.

"SHIGURE, KYO, TOHRU! …Anyone?" His usually impassive voice as a cry fell from his desperate lips, and then he fell back…succumbing to his ebbing consciousness but not before securing that his charge remained unhindered atop his chest.

**(Character Shift)**

_Point of View: Yuki_

The first thing that occurred to him was the feelings that surrounded him. His cheek touching the cool and friendly embrace of a pillow; His body wrapped in the arms of linen sheets and an overbearing comforter, and then the feeling of a cool cloth on his forehead. The second thing that occurred to him…the second thing that danced into his mind was the exhaustion that stole over his aching and cold limbs as he opened his glazed purple hues. Just as he had concluded, he was in his room…and in a wooden chair was an orange mop of hair, his eyes slanted and a scowl settled on his features as he sat stoically in his seat forebodingly.

"So you've finally woken up, huh?" Were the provoked and rough words from the wild teenager…the boy who had been rough around the edges and whom he hated almost as much as he despised Akito. The burgundy glare was like the hot coals of hell against his purple hues.

"You are always one to state the obvious, aren't you? And so what if I did? It's not like you should be one to worry," he coughed out, his voice weak from wheezing.

"I'm not worried at all, you damn rat! It's everyone else that's been running themselves to the grave worrying about you!"

The thought stopped his heart and his feminine expression softened considerably from the hardened but still weak expression he had hoisted off to Kyo.

"Miss Honda…Miss Honda and the others…they've been worried about me then?"His expression looked grieved but his violet eyes seemed to have noted the change in Kyo's hateful expression.

"Of course they've been damned worried! You up and ran to that stupid garden and when you were found, it was on Hatsuharu's unconscious cow-form…as a damn rat! He's had the flu for the last two days but all he does when he's awake is ask about you! I'm supposed to be the one that doesn't know how to be around people but looks like you've done a damn good job of showing you are just as lost as me!"

"….Where's Haru now?" His breath caught in his chest and he pushed his frail body to stand, moving against all the protests that his body wished to give.

"Oh no, you don't! You aren't gettin' me in trouble with Hatori! Lay back down!" But he made no move to touch him…the obvious disdain seen through his eyes told Yuki that he had no interest in being around the Rat anymore than necessary…though there was something else in his eyes…was it worry maybe? No. It wasn't, but he spent no more time than necessary…standing, he grabbed at Kyo's black v-neck shirt…gathering the thin material in his hand.

"Tell me where Haru is," he said in a hardened but silent voice. For all Kyo's loud and boisterous threats, Yuki's silent commands were more than three times as dangerous.

"He's been in my room," Kyo said with a slight withdrawn word…and as Yuki started towards the door, his strong will forcing his body forward…Kyo couldn't help but comment.

"I might have been worried a little too," in a hushed whisper of begrudging care that Yuki's ear barely heard…still he had no time to waste in speaking to Kyo when his body might give out at any moment and send him to the hard wood. Down the hall he sent his body until he pushed the sliding door aside and set his sights on the sleeping form of the dual-hued hair of the taller teen…fast asleep in the soft linens just as he had been hours before. Sniffled breath escaping his nostrils, and a sweat gathering at the male's onyx brow…and it was then he realized…he had all the love he could ever want in a stubborn bovine.


	2. Chapter 2: Bovine Flu

It was one of those days when he had chosen to go to the gardens and reflect on what had truly weighed him down. The memory of Tohru, clinging with small beads of water and salt stuck in the corners of her eyes, and still she kept clinging as a giant ginger beast stood before her raging and the stench rising in a sweltering heat. That was the night that he had lost Miss Honda, which was the night that the Cat had finally won. He hadn't meant to worry anyone, but he had to get away for his feelings had felt as heavy as lead, when he thought back to losing to that cat. He had won the one thing that Yuki had wanted and during that sweltering summer heat…he just wanted anything to help him forget that he had lost his ray of sunshine to a stormy cloud.

It wasn't Yuki's intention to be out so late, or to naturally have become stricken with an asthma attack, not that it would be anyone's intention. Least of all had he expected anyone to truly worry about him, but as it had seemed someone had to the point of becoming sickly for him. His weakened body might have been suffering on its' own, but it he was not about to let that Cat tell him he could not rest at the bedside of the boy who saved him. It was not in Yuki's nature to do anything less than express himself immediately with the sweetest and earnest of words, exclaiming fault where it was his to claim, and showing gratitude where it was his place to show it. He stepped with exhaustion weighing his every step, a slight fever soaking over his forehead. It was not much of a stretch to walk to Kyo's room from his own, however, and he was able to make it without breaking too much of a sweat. Every limb was a labored movement because of the level of exhaustion and strain his body withstood but he knew with more rest that he would be fine. For now, he sat in the chair beside the sleeping Bovine, the strands of black and white clashing as they poked out from the blankets they were hiding under. He sat in a wooden chair by Haru's bedside just watching the intake of breath followed by the exhaling process. He was glad that the cow was safe. He might have been sick but Yuki would sit by his bedside and wait for him to feel better…it was the least he could do for his friend.

"Why'd you have to run out there, Haru? You got very sick, and it's my fault," he said so softly that it was but a whisper of words, like the wind softly blowing to the trees. "You could have gotten lost too, you have a really bad sense of direction…You know that." Somehow, it felt good to scold the unconscious cow…it felt right but still it didn't seem that effective in the long run.

"He did it because he cares and he worries about you, Yuki," said a slack formed male, he stood in the doorway, his black hair a shaggy mess and his robes just hanging loosely off on him. Shigure was always very happy go lucky when it came to most things, including his appearance. "We all do, and you shouldn't run away like that again."

"I won't, I'm sorry I worried everyone. I truly am sorry," he said, his eyes hovering over the form of the sleeping teen. He was younger than him but it was times like these that Haru had showed his maturity.

"It's alright, que sera sera, and all that! That's what I always say! Besides, maybe Tohru will make us some of her delicious soup for Haru! So there's always something good to come of things even as bad as this!"

"Why does it sound like you are happy Haru's sick for your chances to exploit him for Tohru's cooking?"

"No, no, not at all! What gave you that idea? But seriously, Yuki, don't be too hard on yourself, okay?" He called out as he retreated out of the room, frolicking as he most likely began to call out Tohru's name in the off chance he could get some of her cooking. It was the usual Shigure alright…and Miss Tohru would always say yes. That was just the kind of person she was…she was kind, kind like Haru.

"What's all that noise about?" A loud murmur then came from the bed covers. The monotone of it was calm and groggy, but all the same it sounded like typical White Haru.

"Just Shigure trying to use you to get food, you should rest now, Haru."

"Yuki!" All of a sudden there was a push of the covers and half way through Yuki's words Haru's appearance was made clear and his outburst cut right through the rat's words. "Yuuki," he said, his eyes solely on the purplish haired male.

"You are okay then…good."

"Yes, Haru, I'm okay. I'm really sorry I worried you, and I'm very sorry that you got sick looking for me."

Haru seemed to have leaned back again, exhaustion weighing heavily over him, his lids closing as he murmured something like "at least you are safe…"but it was almost a lost whisper...the weight of the cold he was experiencing was weighing heavily on him.

"Get some rest, Haru. I will be here when you wake." And so it was, that the cow had his rat and the rat had his cow, as the intertwining fingertips stayed together in a loving hold.


End file.
